The above title could have been an apt theme for the last Umno Baru annual general assembly. All throughout the proceedings nothing substantial was ever discussed.
That the people are suffering due to the high cost of living with everything essential to their everyday life being marked up was never the main topic of the gathering.
The Youth chief in his opening remarks warned Putrajaya not to impose more hardships on the people. It was a good pointer for the delegates to ponder but to be safe, he then praised the prime minister for having done a good job in running the country.
In other words, he did not really mean what he had said at the Youth meeting. He was merely trying to get the attention of the media. It was a simple PR exercise.
If the Youth wing was really serious about the economic plight of the people, it could have put up a resolution to that effect to be tabled at the main gathering and debated. But this did not happen.
Other scandals that cropped up involving the prime minister who is also their president were never taken as being serious happenings that need full clarifications.
It was odd that the so-called political donation that went into the private banking account of the prime minister was not given the attention that it needed. And the worst part was that this huge amount was not included in the party’s statement of accounts.
The 1MDB scandal which cost the country RM42 billion was also not on the delegates’ agenda.
These two misdemeanours were paramount to the country’s welfare and political standing internationally. But they did not matter to the delegates that attended this so-called annual general assembly of the party.
Thus instead, delegates focused on trivialities. One delegate had nothing better to say and thinking that he was a brilliant man pointed out about the uniform of MAS’ air hostesses. To him that must have been pure gem of a topic. The usual religious punching bag came in handy that the dress portrayed Jewish influence.
But mostly, delegates attacked those who had tried to get answers from the president. The first target was the deputy president who was sacked as deputy prime minister and who had taken the liberty to make a speech at a gathering of his Umno Baru supporters at the Sulaiman Club in Kampong Baru. He did this as he was barred from giving any speech at all at the general assembly.
This was the first time in Umno’s history whereby the number two in the party had been stopped from taking an active part in the party’s general assembly.
Most other delegate simply heaped praises on their president. To them all the scandals surrounding their president did not matter at all.
The president on his part diverted all attention by using fear to move the gathering towards supporting him.
He focused his attack on the DAP and implied that if that party were to helm the government, then the position of the Malays and Islam would be jeopardised.
This is the common strategy that always works among the Umno Baru delegates and uninformed rural Malays. Fear is the sick syndrome that had been used to forever frighten this mindless group.
He had said among other things that “the political reality in Malaysia today is that the people have only two choices, whether the coalition led by Umno or another led or dominated by DAP. If Umno is rejected, this country will be ruled by those who are against the Islamic struggle and who reject the Malay and Bumiputra agenda.”
This was to instil fear among the delegates.
They never for once use their brains to analyse deeply about this. To them, what their president said must be factual and not a mere fantasy. This is the herd mentality that flourishes among the Umno Baru members.
Some even defended the president for his wrong doings. They chided those who had been questioning about the 1MDB debacle and asked critics to stop asking about the so-called political donation of RM2.6 billion that was deposited into their president’s private bank accounts.
Such is the bankruptcy of the mind of the leader and his followers.
In order to draw support to himself, the president even used religion to enhance his comments. He had said that the Quran had urged followers to give full loyalty to the leader. Using religion is another method of conning the followers.
He had said, “In Islam, based on the Quran and verified hadiths, the majority of ulama hold the view that loyalty means being loyal and showing love to the leaders and the institution of leadership. Therefore Islam states that it is compulsory for us to obey the leaders.”
That was to buttress his plea for loyalty.
Nothing substantial therefore came out of the recent Umno Baru general assembly.
The whole proceeding is enveloped with blind acceptance of the president and believing the irrational content of his so called policy speech.
It is a meeting of Najib loyalists and his speech was full of contradictions that indicate the man did not know what to do and in which direction to proceed.
A political party that cannot exhibit intelligence and is bankrupt of the mind should no longer be entrusted to administer the country.
Ahmad Mustapha Hassan was Press Secretary to Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the second Prime Minister of Malaysia.
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